


Man Among Gods: The Adventures of Gondar the Bounty Hunter

by Stylus_of_Gold



Category: Dota 2
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 21:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stylus_of_Gold/pseuds/Stylus_of_Gold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this epic war, some are Gods, Titans and Archmages, wielding the forces of the universe against each other. Then there's me. I've got a little knife, a glorified fishhook and a throwing star. Welcome to my life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1–How did I get here?

_Why am I doing this?_

Magnus the magnocerous swatted Gondar away as he leapt on his back, as one would swat a fly. By the time Gondar landed and stopped rolling, half his ribs were broken, he'd lost three teeth, and he could barely stay conscious.

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_How did I get here?_  
 _When the Radiant came looking for the greatest warriors of the realms, I thought they meant The Realm, and I thought they meant warriors. Being the realm's justice, I thought I qualified._  
 _So I got here. Other guys are, what? Archmages. Prophets. Psionic assassins. Magnoceri. Gods. Titans. The fundamentals of the universe._  
 _Me? I run around with a glorified fishhook and a little knife._  
 _I can't run; there's only two ways out: victory or death. Miracle I've lived so long._  
 _Oh well, here they come to finish me off, I suppose. Gondar the bounty hunter, signing off._

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Gondar sat up and regarded his the saviour. An old, white-bearded man he was, with light seeming to come from all of him, not just the radiant staff he carried. He wore a white and yellow robe and rode a pure white mare, and a more magnificent steed Gondar had never seen.  
"Hello Keeper.", Gondar said flatly. "I guess you have a lecture to give about not trying to rodeo a magnocerous or something?"  
Keeper of the Light responded in his obnoxious tone "No. Look within, you are here for a reason." And without another word, he rode off.

_More of his bullshit. You'd think I'd've gotten used to this after he saved me so many times, but why argue with the… the thing which just saved your life?_

_Anyways, Magnus and his crew are launching a highly offensive offensive on our bottom outpost, and someone needs to point out targets for the big guys._

* * *

AN: Alright, first of all, I don't own DotA 2, nor any of the characters therein.

Secondly, In case you haven't noticed already, there were significant changes made in the transition from the hard-mechanical game into a storytelling medium, such as the power differences and the larger scale of the war, so i hope you'll forgive me for a little adaptation.

Thirdly, thanks ever so much to Matt Fraction, David Aja, Javier Pulido and everyone else who worked on Hawkeye: My life as a weapon. It, particularly the opening scene, in many ways inspired this story.


	2. Chapter 2–Bad ideas

Chapter 2–Bad ideas

"Fi-rah!"

_Shit he heard that._

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A large shuriken still sticking into his back, Spirit Breaker wheeled and charged, while Gondar fled back into the forest, his thoughts racing nearly as fast as his feet. He'd never, in all his life, run so fast.

_Mental note. Shuriken into back: not effective against extra-dimensional monster-cow._

_Keep running. Just a little further…_

He heard the nine foot bull-man trampling the underbrush behind him, leaped… and his trap sprung. A net made of steel wire, twisted together to form cable, tangled the bull up and pinned him to the ground.

"Haha!" chuckled Gondar, approaching Spirit Breaker. "Gotcha!" he whispered in the bull's ear as he struggled and, just barely avoiding Spirit Breaker's flailing arms, used his crescent moon blade to slice the back of the beast's knee. Then, muttering his Jinada prayer, he stabbed its throat, hitting arteries. Backing off, his heart racing, he let the beast between the planes bleed out before him, and collected himself.

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_Stupid! Stupid! STUPID! How'd you think that'd work? It's cable, sure, but Gondar! He nearly escaped! He would've if he hadn't just phased a moment ago! He would've killed you! STUPID!_

_All the same, I did it. I did just bring down Spirit Breaker, which is not quite Magnus, but good nonetheless…_

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Gondar watched as the offensive was finally routed as Ursa the one bear army tore Magnus to shreds, and wondered if his bad-idea-gone-right: his little victory against a tired Spirit Breaker, really meant anything.  
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Gondar and the rest of the Radiant army were on the offensive now. There were swarms of creeps underfoot, or rather not since they were only an inch shorter than Gondar but underfoot for many of them. The fire and ice sisters Lina and Rylai were slinging around spells of staggering power, each trying to outdo each other, while Ursa and (Treebeard? need to look up the name…) the Treant Protector smashed through scores of creeps. On the other side could be seen Lucifer the Doombringer, Leviathan the Tidehunter and the bone brothers: Skeleton King and Clinkz the bone fletcher. The Dire's fighters were outnumbered, but that didn't comfort Gondar.

Gondar was slicing through creeps, one at a time as opposed to three or four at a time like the others, and feeling supremely useless. Then he looked up from a creep he put down. The Lord of Bones was striding towards him, his massively oversized blade held confidently over his right shoulder.

_Oh, this is a bad idea…_

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Gondar leapt back, dodging the skeleton king's first swing. Ursa lumbered between Gondar and Clinkz, trying to get his claws to the skeleton archer's neck.

_You should be running. He's not that skilled, you've got cover from the archer, but you should be running._

Gondar sidestepped the skeleton king's downward stroke, hopped in, and thrust his mancatcher-sword at the skeleton king's arm.

_What're you gonna do, Gondar? He'll just regenerate it all within a minute._

The skeleton king projected a blast of hellfire from his left hand, but Gondar pushed him down with his leverage and the blast missed him, yet still singed his fur with it's infernal heat.

_This is stupid, you know it._

Gondar twisted his mancatcher and jammed his knife into the king's wrist, combined it gave him leverage and vantage point enough to shatter half the bones in his hand and wrench it free of his arm.  
The skeleton king's sword fell to the ground and, fast as lightning, Gondar shoved his stunned foe away, preventing him from recovering his weapon.

_Good, now run while you still have the chance._

Gondar did not run. He slashed the skeleton king in the skull, chipping it. Leaned back, avoiding the punch. He then spun his dagger and parted 2 rib bones from their lord with a swipe of the blade.

_Good job, now you've made him mad. Now get out or finish the job before he takes it out on your spleen or something_

Ducking a grab aimed at his throat, Gondar hooked his dagger around the back of his foe's lower spine, muttered "Jinada" and thrust his crescent moon blade onto the braced spine, effectively severing both the king's legs.

Of course, the king merely reattached his spine and slugged Gondar in the face with his stump, then wrapped his remaining hand round the bounty hunter's throat and punched him again.

Gondar, who'd been hit in the face more times than he could count, was nonetheless somewhat staggered by the blows, and what with not being able to breath and all, was getting pretty desperate. So he put up his hands and blocked the next strike, then hoisted his legs up and wrapped them and his right elbow around The Lord of bones' arm.

They both fell, Skeleton King letting go of Gondar's throat. Gondar then applied an armbar (he was half done already) and slashed down, severing his foe's arm at the elbow. They scrambled up, and Gondar slashed in, his serrated mancatcher-sword sawing off part of the skeleton's skull.

_Time to end this._

Gondar leapt up as only a bobcat could, soaring above his foe as he tried to tackle the bounty hunter, then spun around and bifurcated him again. He then finished the job by decapitating The Lord of bones and driving his dagger through his blazing eye.

Gondar took a step back as his foe collapsed, then reformed.

His voice full of rage and wounded yet still massive pride, the Skeleton King jeered "Are you ready to do that again?" at the tired bounty hunter.

Gondar smiled and sat down as skeleton king was picked up and crushed into bonemeal by Ursa, who'd finished pursuing Clinkz and trading blows with Doom a short while ago (Both had escaped, but Doom bore several new scars).

"Ha! You should leave these things to me, bounty hunter!" roared the one bear army before turning and congratulating Treant Protector for smashing their outpost and Lina for chasing off Tidehunter (much to Rylai's chagrin).

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_I go toe-to-toe with The Lord of Bones, keep him there while Ursa takes his sweet time with Doom, outthink and outfight him him completely and take out one of his lives and THIS is what I get?! Some bear telling me to stay out of this? Arrogant bastard._

_It was good advice though. Someone like me, against someone like him, not a good decision. This day's been full of stupid decisions._

_But hey, turned out pretty good._

_For a series of bad ideas._


	5. Enough Self Pity

Traxex was interred the next day, her body buried on the battlefield with naught but a small cairn to mark where she was. Gondar turned to Lyralei and said "We must get back to the front. We shouldn't let Traxex' death stop us from helping our cause."  
Lyralei responded, her normal tone nearly restored "Race ya to top!" and with that they were off, going to the top lane just like old times.

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There they found Yumero the juggernaut in a difficult situation: Before him were Broodmother, Lion and Lifestealer. Next to Yumero was an unidentifiable mass of dead green flesh and twisted branches, shivering and undulating. Yumero said "Ah. The great Lion Creep-slayer," then Lion pointed at Yumero and responded "You're next."

_Oh perfect. We find an ally in need and can't even help him._  
I can't help him, I mean what chance do I have against someone like Lion?  
He should run, we should run, otherwise it's sui– 

At that point, Lyralei laughed and ran forward, tethering Lion to Broodmother, then Yumero disappeared for a millisecond before appearing in front of Lion, slashing him, slashing Broodmother, slashing Lifestealer, then doing it all again. He and Lyralei then finished off Lifestealer while Gondar watched in disbelief, then the newly freed Broodmother retreated back into her web, dragging the Demon Witch along with her.

_Crazy bastards, both of them.  
How did they expect to defeat Lion? Man's one of the most powerful mages who ever lived, how'd they expect to beat him?_

Creep waves clashed in the background as the three recollected themselves.  
"That was crazy.", said Gondar, "You shouldn't be alive right now. You threw yourself at Lion–" Juggernaut cut him off "Gondar, enough self-pity," he said sharply, "I know you say you have no magic and cannot defeat great foes, but there are others like you, like me. None complain like you do!" Lyralei supported him, adding "Gondar, we fought Tidehunter! Come on!"

"Don't they get it?" shouted Gondar, "We're ants to them! You could have gotten yourselves killed! And look, we're some of the only ones left! Riki, he tried stabbing Slardar. Perfect backstab! But Slardar couldn't have cared less! He crushed him, knives in his back be damned! Sven tried using all his strength, some of the greatest strength of any human, and he was smashed by Tidehunter! Brewmaster couldn't even scratch Chaos Knight's armour! We lightweights are dying!"

Lyralei laughed and said girlishly "They went alone. We're together, Gondar. Even if you think we don't stand a chance, we can do this if we work together!"

_She's so hopeful. Yumero's so confident. They're lightweights, their magic is nothing impressive compared to others, but they're so sure they can change things.  
It might be foolish, but I may as well play along with them._

_Sure beats self-pity._


	6. Running

Gondar, Lyralei and Yumero had moved hardly ten metres before they heard it: the sound of death approaching. Turning around, Gondar realized that Lion, Broodmother and Lifestealer were just the vanguard.

Lucifer the doombringer led the charge. With the fundamentals constantly doing little grudge matches and seemingly hardly caring about the war, Lucifer was the closest anyone could find to the leader of the Dire army. Behind him were Tidehunter, Slardar, Sand King and Dirge, and formed up in a hoard behind them stood Medusa, Pudge, Dazzle, Clinkz, Venomancer, Phantom assassin, Shadow demon and Invoker. Underfoot were legions of creeps and what seemed like an endless tide of Dirge's undead minions.

"Run!" shouted Gondar, and the others took heed. Yumero activated the strange boots he'd apparently found in the wilderness and took off lightning fast, but was soon outpaced by Lyralei who had the winds themselves at her heels. For Gondar's part, he threw down a smoke bomb and dashed off into the jungle, hoping his skill at stealth would not fail him now.

_Come on Lyralei, Yumero. You just need make it to the bridge._

He lay there as they looked around for him, but it was clear that the Dire army wasn't going to slow down to look for one bounty hunter. A few goblins who Gondar hadn't noticed before started rushing around, planting metal canisters a couple feet beneath the earth. These goblin techies were quite odd, and Gondar was sure he'd seen them on the Radiant side before, but Gondar wasn't about to underestimate them. He kept his distance and began making his way back to his side.

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The Dire army smashed into their outpost, toppling it in a matter of seconds with their great might, then continued down the lane. They crushed a wave of creeps underfoot while Gondar watched, keeping his distance should anyone spot him. By now Lion had rejoined them, though the broodmother hadn't, perhaps because she was more injured, or perhaps just less crazy than Lion.

_Come on, Radiants. We can't just let them do this._

When they reached the second outpost, they found the Radiant army waiting for them.

At the forefront were Ursa and Tiny, the two hardest hitting people in the war. Behind them stood Kunkka, Jakiro, Tusk and Bristleback (How are they still alive?), Huskar, and Clockwerk. Behind them stood, in a slightly more orderly fashion, stood Rubick, shadow shaman, silencer, enchantress, Luna, Nature's prophet, Yumero and Lyralei.

Doombringer roared "Now!" and the Dire army retreated, the goblins taking up the rear.

The Radiant army shuffled for a moment, not quite knowing what to do, as the Dire army ran as fast as the individual members could. All but the goblins. As they ran they were bending over where they had placed each canister and tweaking something.

As the Radiant army lurched forward, something clicked in Gondar. He ran forward, between the armies, as fast as his legs could carry him, and shouted "STOP!" as Ursa neared him, "IT'S A BOMB! THEY PLANTED BOMBS!". Ursa, ever the trusting ally, believed Gondar immediately and roared in a voice which shook the earth, "HALT! DO NOT ADVANCE!" and the Radiant army stopped in it's tracks. Ursa leaned in and growled "If you've robbed me of victory I swear, I'll devour your entrails."

The seconds ticked by agonizingly, as Gondar sweated and prayed he'd been right. He got himself as far from both the canisters and Ursa as possible, but he knew no amount of distance would save him from Ursa's wrath. The Dire army had regrouped, and Ursa let out a blood-curdling roar as a creep wave entered the kill-zone. He ran to Gondar, but found his path blocked by Lyralei and Yumero, who said "If you want to kill Gondar, you must kill me," to which Lyralei added "And me too!" Ursa growled, turned around, and said "So be it!"

Ursa began stomping away, grumbling about traitors, when his words were drowned out by the explosion of a great field of bombs set by the goblins. Explosions rocked the earth and continued for some time.

Ursa was silent for a moment, then said so everyone could hear him "I'm sorry Gondar."

_That was close. For a moment, I thought I was wrong there. Now they're going to praise me as a hero, but really I was just in the right place at the right time with the right eyes. Nothing heroic about that.  
Why did those goblins turn on us though? Something is afoot, and I don't think I like it. _

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Chief technician Freebo stood before Lucifer the Doombringer and tried to explain himself. "I don't–" But doom cut him off "And I don't want excuses! I should send you back to Nevermore's gullet! An eternity in there would teach you to make excuses…"

Freebo pleaded "Please, no! I'll do anything! I'll suicide bomb them, I'll do anything, just not the gullet!" he fell on his knees and began sobbing. Once, he had been the bravest goblin in the world, he dimly recalled. But he'd been held by Nevermore, still partially alive, in his gullet, and the prospect of an eternity of that was more than he could endure.

Lucifer growled. He knew that soon these techies would learn of Zeus' killing of Nevermore, hell he was lucky they'd been too blind to see it before. They'd outlived their usefulness anyways. Plus he was angry.

He swung his flaming sword, decapitating or bifurcating the entire tech crew in one swing. He then turned around and followed his army as they retreated, some down the lane, some in every direction into the jungle.

It only occurred to him later that that was the second time he'd been caught running. He decided it would be the last.


	7. It's never so simple

_For the first time since I got here, things are starting to seem simple._   
_I'm pursuing Slark: a dangerous, armed convict from a maximum-security prison through a jungle full of unseen terrors._   
_Just like old times._

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Somewhere in the second top lane outpost (The first one had been torn down by a tree), a mage both ancient and impossibly powerful looked into a scrying mirror, twirled his fingers, pointed at a random blip of light on his scrying display, and calmly said "Exort, exort, exort."

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Gondar's world exploded in light. He tried to get to cover, but in an instant it was gone, he was half-blind, and could barely move for the pain. He staggered down and fell, his every nerve ablaze with pain, his fur and skin seared raw.

_Of course. Just when I thought things were simple again._

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There he lay a few minutes as the pain began to ebb, whimpering and wondering what he'd done to deserve this fate. As he finally found the strength to get up, he saw a huge fish-man, trident held lightly against his side, slither towards him. He started to get up, took a few steps, and fell, his body afire again.

"Make it quick," Gondar choked out, the words on his mouth full of despair.  
"You're hunting Slark," Slardar pointed out.  
"Yeah, I was," responded Gondar, pained. "Just get it over with. I hate it when people gloat over things they didn't earn."  
"That was not my plan. I want to bargain for your life," said Slardar.  
"What? We're enemies–" Gondar began, but was cut off by Slardar. "It's not so simple. Slithereen guards do as they're told, Slithereen do their duty. It matters not if we like it. The emperor owed the Dire a life-debt and repaid by sending me. So I fight for chaos out of duty."  
"Yes, and now it's your duty–" Slardar cut him off again, "To kill you, but you are small and do not matter so much. Slithereen have a duty to the empire and must pursue the empire's enemies. Slark… Slark is a criminal. Slark is a murderer. Slark is the only escapee from Dark Reef prison, he is an enemy of the empire. You are known even in the deeps, Gondar. We had always hoped Slark would go to land, so we could hire you to bring him to justice. You help me find Slark and I will give you my healing salve and spare you today."  
Slardar offered Gondar his wet, slimy hand.

Gondar shook it.

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It took a while, but with liberal application of healing salve, Gondar was soon back on his feet, and besides it was easy to track Slark, who'd never had to cover his tracks on land before. They tracked him through the jungle, slowly gaining on their quarry, who was raiding the jungle camps for gold and supplies.

Night had dawned and the moon –still the same lucent crescent even in this place– was out when Gondar spotted Slark and came back to Slardar, who was a ways behind him.

"Alright, there he is," said Gondar, pointing in the direction of where Slark was.  
"Good. I will bring him down," replied Slardar, and then slither-sprinted forward faster than someone his size had any right to, his light illuminating the darkness, giving him direction yet nigh blinding Gondar's darkness-accustomed cat eyes.

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Slardar returned mere minutes later with a bloody mass slung over his shoulder.

"Slark could not hide from us," said Slardar, not a scratch on his scales.

Gondar narrowed his eyes, getting ready to flee if Slardar decided he was no use to him, and said "So what now?"  
"Now you are of no use to me. Now you are my enemy." growled Slardar.  
"So what, two with one stone?" Gondar asked. He was ready: he'd prepared a few low-yield smoke bombs which he hoped would distract Slardar for long enough to escape.  
"No. I said I would spare you for today. A Slithereen has honour. We do not lie. You go free until midnight, but if I see you after that, I will kill you."

"But, you can't fail to fight your enemies, can't fail to do your duty," Gondar wondered why he was saying this. Perhaps some part of him didn't want to keep delaying the inevitable, perhaps he just wanted things to make sense, he did not know.  
"It's not so simple," responded Slardar "You do not matter so much. My honour matters much more. Honour the Slithereen code above all, but also fight the enemies of the empire and do your duty and protect the empire and do not fail. There is much in conflict within the life of a Slithereen guard. I am a Slithereen captain, so I can make the decision here. And I choose honour. You live."

"Thank you, Slardar," Gondar said earnestly, still not quite believing his luck, before disappearing into the night.


	10. Chapter 4–Memories

 

Gondar returned back to his side, where a camp had been set up for the night. Zeus was watching over them, they were in the shadow of a tower and Luna was patrolling the perimeter, so Gondar wasn't worried about a surprise night attack.

_With all the gaiety around the camp, you'd think we weren't even at war._   
_But I can smell the blood, see the fatigue, feel the sorrow of lost friends._   
_After four weeks of war, most of us mortals are dead. Many had friends who've died. The pain, the fear, the knowledge that this may be your last supper. It's all there, just hiding._   
_And nothing can hide from me._

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Gondar was strolling through the camp, seeing Tusk and Bristleback drinking together, each trying to outdo the other (How'd they survive this long anyways?), when he came upon something which made him start.

_How'd you get in here?_ , Gondar wondered as he drew his shuriken and aimed it at Clinkz, but stopped when he saw who he was with.

Lyralei the windrunner and Clinkz were standing side-by-side, looking down, heads bowed, at a shroud.

Gondar was glad to see Lyralei alive after all this time, and yet was puzzled as to why she and Clinkz were standing together over a shroud. Not wanting to disturb whatever vigil they were maintaining, he started off, but at that moment Lyralei looked up.

Her sad, joyous smile was more radiant than Keeper's staff, and for a moment even Gondar forgot they were in a war. A single tear, like a liquid diamond, slowly rolled down the pale face of the fastest woman alive.

Seeing her smile, he remembered a time when it all seemed like a big adventure.

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They'd all thought they were so important.

The sun was shining, the creeps were charging, Legion Commander had given an inspiring speech, and everyone was clamouring to the front. Gondar had thought he'd return home with a monstrous rack of bounties under his belt.

Tidehunter had proven him wrong.

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On the middle lane and in the front line had been Sven, Davion and the Omniknight. Behind them had been Gondar, Lyralei and Kardel Sharpeye the sniper, among countless others. There had been so many of them. When they saw the Dire army, they almost laughed. It was a motley crew of beasties, not a true army, and it was outnumbered too.

A man in a mask with tonfa-blades had arrived first, screaming "Blood for the flayed ones!", and was cut down by Sven's sword.

They began fording the river, the Dire forces staying back, all but one. Gondar remembered Sharpeye had shot the beast three times, but it kept coming. When it reached the river, the beast that Gondar now knew as Tidehunter shattered their hopes with a single spell.

Tentacles rose up. They dashed Davion against the rocks and crushed Sven into jelly. The fleeing Omniknight knocked Gondar down and he was sure he'd die there, But he was hauled to his feet and carried off by Lyralei –though then she'd been only Windrunner to him– who'd dropped her bow into the water to save him. Out of everyone who'd been in the ford that day only he, Sharpeye, Lyralei and the Earthshaker escaped.

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_Is that a tear I feel?_

_I never cried before I came here, but then again, I'd never felt helpless before. That day, lying in the water, knowing no amount of cunning or skill would save me from the wrath of Maelwrawn, I knew what it was to be prey._

"Gondar!" Lyralei called quietly, her face actually lighting up, glad to see him, and then her smile fell. She beckoned, her natural energy buried but not gone.

Gondar came to stand next to them, and Clinkz looked at him and asked "Who are you to her?", gesturing at the shroud. Gondar looked down at it, and could not believe his eyes.

"Who are you?", he hissed angrily. Clinkz responded "I admired her. I respected her, and in the end, I killed her."

"Then why are you here?" hissed Gondar. "I've had no friends since my transformation. The loss of such a worthy opponent… it felt just like when my last friend died," responded Clinkz, his voice betraying the tiniest hint of mourning over Traxex' death, but Gondar had no use for his explanations. He drew his dagger, and was about to slash at the skeleton when Lyralei grabbed his arm and said slowly and sharply "If I died, I'd want a fight, I'd want gossip and controversy and a feast and jokes and stories. But Traxex wanted a silent vigil, and she asked Clinkz to come as she died. So let's just… shut up."

_I suppose it would be what she'd want. Traxex was always so silent, so reserved. She never let us get too close to her…_

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Gondar had found Lyralei's bow and given it back to her out of gratitude, and Lyralei had thanked him. Then she and Traxex nodded at each other and took off. Gondar followed as they helped defend the top lane, ignoring their own frailty in comparison to their foes, Lyralei distracting and binding and letting Traxex finish them. Gondar had followed along, marvelling at their skill, their courage, and especially Lyralei's cheerful nature, as though her spirit was unbreakable.

One time came to memory: the time when they had accepted Gondar into their team. The time they'd made a fool out of Tidehunter himself.

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They'd been on the top lane, and Tidehunter had come lumbering out of the river, blocking their escape. Lyralei and Traxex had gotten diamond-hard arrows to penetrate thick hide beforehand. Lyralei had run forward, leaving Gondar and Traxex in her dust, and hit Tidehunter in the stomach with an arrow so tiny compared to Tidehunter that he barely noticed.

Tidehunter lumbered forward, and Traxex fired an ice arrow, sticking in, while Gondar reluctantly held back. Tidehunter swung at Lyralei, but she leaped twenty feet into the air, the wind carrying her over Tidehunter, and shot him in with a tether arrow, anchoring his anchor to a tree as he tried to smash her.

Gondar, meanwhile, had decided to sneak around Tidehunter as he gnawed the tether off. He lumbered towards Traxex, ignoring Lyralei's arrows glancing off his more heavily armoured back.

Traxex retreated, but Tidehunter blasted her with a water stream, pinning her down as he moved in for the kill. It was then that Gondar struck.

His serrated blade shearing through Tidehunter's tendons in the back of his knee, he yelled to Lyralei and Traxex "Target his joints!" and Lyralei fired her power shot, skewering his other knee.

As Tidehunter fell, Traxex got back up and limped away, her leg crushed, before applying healing salve while Gondar and Lyralei danced around Tidehunter, frustrating him as they dodged every wild swing and destroyed his joints until he could barely move at all.

Tidehunter roared the first English they'd heard him speak, "Damn you all!" and attempted to call Maelwrawn before being silenced by Traxex.

_Sometimes it's the little things which bring down great beasts. A bolas tethering an anchor, realizing he has tendons too, a little bit of extra power, even a well-placed silence spell. Alone, none of us would have done much to him, but together…_

They did not kill Tidehunter that day. His shell was too thick, his constitution too strong, and besides Lion and Venomancer had been coming up, but they had made a fool out of him.

Fleeing into their outpost, Lyralei had given Traxex a tiny peck on the lips and then a big hug, which had thoroughly surprised the ranger but she'd reciprocated after a couple seconds.

Lyralei then thanked Gondar for saving Traxex, and asked him if he'd like to join them.

Gondar had accepted.

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_That was only three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, we three featherweights bested one of the most powerful fighters in the war. And now, we can never hear her calm voice again, never see her graceful strides again._

The three stood over Traxex; two friends and one foe, friendship, love and respect gathered around her shroud, only her face showing and her bow on top of her shroud. The only sound was the faint crackling of Clinkz' hellfire heart.

Gondar remembered the last time he'd seen Traxex, when plans long forgotten had torn them apart.

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After the Tidehunter incident, they'd become inseparable.

Lyralei and Gondar joked, laughed and kept each others' spirits up, though sometimes Gondar wondered if Lyralei was doing it just for his benefit, so unquenchable was her optimism.

Traxex kept them on track, occasionally competed with Lyralei and was the closest thing to a leader they had. She was always so professional, but Gondar could tell there was something more to her and Lyralei than just coldly professional colleagues, though Traxex acted quite coolly towards her and Gondar.

But nothing escaped Gondar's notice, and he could tell that over those golden two weeks they had together, Traxex had counted Lyralei and Gondar as possibly her only friends in the world.

Two weeks they were together. They made a good team, though they never distinguished themselves as greatly as on their first day, they nevertheless did well, and more importantly they did what most "squishy" (as Ursa referred to them as) mortals couldn't do in war of the gods: they had survived, and they had stayed sane, even optimistic if you balanced out Lyralei with Gondar.

Then it had all ended.

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They were in Legion Commander's HQ tent. She had insisted that no-one call her by name, and she never used people's real names either. That was just how she operated.

"Bounty hunter, Windrunner and Drow ranger," she began matter-of-factly, "You three make a good team, but I'm afraid you'll have to split up for a while. See, Drow and Windrunner are needed with me around the middle lane and Bounty, you're needed on bottom lane. It's only a temporary arrangement, and you'll get the rest of your orders when you're in position. Now, off with you! I have a war to win."

They didn't question Legion Commander's orders. After the first day, she'd rallied them together, coordinated the entire Radiant army. They'd been winning the war quite handily thanks to her leadership.

So they said their goodbyes, convinced they'd see each other again. Lyralei had given them a big group hug, Traxex had calmly thanked Gondar and Lyralei, and Gondar had sworn he'd track them down once they were in the "real" world, so their little dream team could get back together once this was all over.

But the plans they were in were all forgotten on the night everything went to hell, the night Legion Commander died: The night of terror.

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That was the night when five individuals made an army of heroes fear the dark, when it turned from an orderly war they were winning into the chaotic struggle for survival it was today. No-one admitted it, the number of outposts destroyed seemed to deny it, but everyone felt it: from that night on, the Radiant army was losing.

Gondar hadn't seen most of it, he'd been in the bottom lane, but it was the day after Legion gave those orders. He supposed some part of him thought that Traxex and Lyralei had died that night, but he didn't know.

Lich, Lycanthrope, Night Stalker, Bane and the Ancient Apparition. He didn't know their real names, only what they did.

That night, the Radiant army slept soundly. Then it got cold. Not the cold of winter, not the cold of night, but the primal, all-pervading cold that makes your soul shiver. Howls could be heard, and a base fear gripped the stoutest hearts.

Those sleeping were jolted awake, or else held in the grip of nightmares while their bodies froze in their bedrolls. Mirana had seen Lycanthrope and his pack coming, but she hadn't seen Nightstalker, who had dragged her off her mount and killed her in the middle of the camp.

Lich came in next, escalating the cold into a lethal chill that claimed more lives than Tidehunter's tentacles. The fear, the cold, the blood. It was everywhere. Heroes were held frozen with cold and fear in their tents and killed where they lay. Creeps were torn apart by the score.

And Legion Commander died, torn to ribbons in her own command tent.

The remaining heroes of the middle lane gathered together and tried to defend, but many were killed by Lich's chain frost spell. More were torn apart by Nightstalker or Lycanthrope, and still more fell to Bane's sorceries.

Then they had disappeared to terrorize the bottom lane, and Gondar was glad he'd been in the jungle, away from the camp at the time. Finally, they'd used their scrolls to get to the top lane in the last minutes of the artificially extended night.

There Nightstalker, Bane and Lycanthrope had met their end. They'd grown overconfident, so sure in their own strength that they'd thrown caution to the wind. They'd met Elder Titan and Nature's Prophet: two of the heaviest heavyweights Radiant had. They had ended the night of terror, but it had cost Elder Titan his life to do so.

Afterwards, the Radiant's army was in tatters. They guarded the night with the all-seeing eyes of Zeus, the darkvision of Luna and the safety of outposts and sentry wards. They knew that it could never happen the same way again, but nonetheless the damage was done: they'd nearly collapsed as an army, and they'd learned to fear the night.

Afterward, Gondar had searched for his friends. he'd gone up and down, searching fruitlessly for Lyralei and Traxex, until two days ago he'd come upon Magnus and did that stupid rodeo maneuver.

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The night dragged on and on. None fell asleep that night, all stood there until the dawn broke over the camp. It was just as beautiful even in this place as it had been in the "real" world.

As the sun rose, it's radiance illuminating Lyralei's teary, tired, beautiful face, Clinkz spoke up.

"I must return. Luna and Zeus have let me in for Traxex' vigil, but the more bloodthirsty ones may not be so lenient," Clinkz said. "I… I wish we could have been friends, she and I. But the world the Radiant is creating has no place in it for skeleton archers, and I owe Ostarion everything. Loyalty does not end in death in the empire of bones, not even final death. So I must go."

Without another word, Clinkz vanished in a puff of smoke and fire, though Gondar could hear his feet as he ran to his side of the battlefield.

"Goodbye Clinkz!" called Lyralei. Gondar, still not sure if he should say this, said "Goodbye."

_For a skeleton archer, he's not so bad after all.  
I suppose I'd better–_

Lyralei leaned down and hugged Gondar, rested her face on his shoulder. Gondar didn't hesitate to hug her back.

"I'm glad you're alive, Lyralei," he said, his hand caressing the back of her head.  
"I'm glad you are too," said Lyralei, an unusual affection in her tone.  
They broke their embrace, and Lyralei said "So what now?" her usual sing-song voice beginning to return.  
"I say," began Gondar, "We get some sleep. Then we can talk."

It was all too easy, after over 24 hours of wakefulness, for Gondar to fall into a deep sleep.

He slept there, one tent away from Lyralei, each dreaming of half-forgotten memories of the past and dreams of what might have been, but for the life of them, neither of them could remember what they were.


End file.
